Microsoft's Lawyer Claims Android Benefited From Its R&D
Microsoft's Lawyer Claims Android Benefited From Its R&D
Microsoft's legal team has fired another potshot at Google Android by attributing Android's success to Microsoft's research and development. Horacio Gutierrez, the deputy general counsel of Microsoft's intellectual property group was defending the company's decision to pursue patent license agreements with several Android vendors in recent months.
The Register - "These devices have moved from having a rudimentary phone system to being a full-fledged computer, with a sophisticated, modern operating system. In doing that, they have really stood on the shoulder of companies like Microsoft who made all these billions of dollars in investments," Horacio Gutierrez, deputy general counsel of Microsoft's intellectual property group, told the San Fran Chronicle.
Gutierrez also said that "Microsoft has invested for decades more money than anyone else in the research and development directed toward the efficiency of operating systems", and since smartphone innovation is in the software now, software ideas have to be part of intellectual property.
Microsoft has in place about ten license agreements with players across the industry, which include Samsung and Compal. It appears that there is no stopping the Redmond firm from protecting its patent portfolio.
Source: The Register via Android Community